THE first impulse to excavations in Assyria was given by a German scholar who had established himself in Paris. Julius Mohl cheered on Botta to the work of excavation, and kept him encouraged while it dragged along. During all the time that Layard, Loftus, and their coadjutors worked in the field Mohl watched them from afar, and carefully noted their successes. He was now secretary of the Societe Asiatique of Paris, and in his annual reports be told the society of all that had gone on in the great valley amid the graves of ancient cities. In his report for the year 1855 his note was distinctively sad. He recorded the fact that every single expedition which had been sent out to dig had laid down the work or bad been recalled. That seemed to him a lamentable circumstance, for to his discerning eye the soil was underlaid with monuments recording the whole life of the vast empires which had held sway in Nineveh or in Babylon. He was impatient to have the excavations resumed, and he called on the governments to take steps to this end. The future was to confirm Mohl’s view fully, and even more than confirm it, of the vast treasures that lay buried. The time, however, for their excavation had not come in the year 1855. Neither governments nor free peoples would carry on excavations for antiquities that were mere unmeaning curiosities when they were found. That work must wait until the decipherment had reached a sure result, and until the work of translation had been so far popularized that the results should be generally known. As a former chapter has shown, the period of doubtful translations ended and the period of surely known results began in 1857. It was only necessary that these matters should be popularized, and that would require some time. This popularization was, fortunately, carried on chiefly, at least in England, by the great masters themselves. Rawlinson, Hincks, Talbot, Norris-a remarkable list of names, surely these were the men who made known in popular papers or by lectures and addresses the great discoveries in Assyria. Some of these papers struck the old note of Shirley, and revealed the importance of Assyrian studies for the light they were sure to shed upon the Bible. That would be certain to arouse interest in Great Britain and, as before, might result in the beginning of more excavations. The sequel will show how wonderfully this very zeal for biblical study operated in the stimulating of Assyrian research. A boy, George Smith by name, destined for the work of an engraver, read in the short spaces of his crowded days the magic words of Rawlinson and the other pioneers, and was moved to begin the study of Assyrian himself. As he himself witnessess,189 he was first roused to definite study by the interest of biblical history, and with the purpose of doing something for it, he applied in 1866 to Sir Henry Rawlinson for permission to study the original copies, casts, or fragments of inscriptions belonging to the reign of Tiglathpileser. Rawlinson gladly gave the permission, and Smith went earnestly to work. His success was not great with these, but his industry was rewarded by the discovery of a new inscription of Shalmaneser with the name of Jehu upon it, by which he ascertained the year of Shalmaneser’s reign in which Jehu had paid his tribute.190 In this discovery, the first original work which Smith had done, there was one little hint of use to the Old Testament student. Smith had begun as he was to go on. After this discovery Sir Henry Rawlinson was so struck by the young man’s success that he suggested his employment by the British Museum for work in the new Assyrian department. There he was established in the beginning of 1867, and his success was immediate. In his own survey of his work in the museum Smith remembered most vividly the biblical discoveries, and these were they which gave him his first popular reputation and the opportunities of his life. He found on the texts names and notices of Azariah, king of Judah, Pekah, king of Israel, and Hoshea, king of Israel. These stirred his pulses and drove him on even at the peril of his health. The depletion of vital force through constant and difficult work was probably the ultimate cause of his early death, after the brilliant series of discoveries and explorations which were now before him. Smith possessed in unusual degree a gift for decipherment. While still feeling his way along the intricate mazes of cuneiform decipherment there came to the British Museum some copies of the then undeciphered Cypriote texts. Dr. Birch called his attention to them, and soon he was engaged in an attempt to read them. On November 7, 1871, he read a paper before the Society of Biblical Archaeology .On the Reading of Cypriote Inscriptions."191 The method which he used was similar to the plan of Grotefend, and it was applied with wonderful skill and with surprising results. He had picked out the word for king, though he knew no Greek with which to make comparisons, and had identified forty out of fifty odd characters. A man possessing genius of such order was sure to win fame in the new field of Assyriology. From 1867 to 1871 discovery followed discovery until Smith’s edition of the Asshurbanapal inscriptions appeared. This volume made clear the immense gain to history from the discovery and decipherment of the Assyrian inscriptions, for it contained the accounts of the campaigns and of the building operations of Asshurbanapal. Yet, great as all this was, its influence fell far short, of that of a discovery which Smith made in

1872. In that year, while working among some fragments brought home by Rassam, Smith picked out a broken clay tablet, upon which he soon read unmistakable parallels to the biblical account of the deluge. The piece thus found was soon followed by three duplicates and other lesser fragments. From these he ascertained that the part first found was the eleventh in a series of twelve tablets, and that it gave the history of a great hero whom Smith called Izdubar. He published the announcement of his discovery, and Asshurbanapal was forgotten, few probably thinking of the great king who had made the library out of which these newly found tablets had come. But England did not know how to be calm in the presence of such a discovery as this. When Smith had translated enough of the tablets to make a somewhat connected story of the deluge, as the Babylonians told it, he read a paper on the subject before the Society of Biblical Archaeology on December 3, 1872. The meeting was large and enthusiastic. Sir Henry C. Rawlinson presided, Smith presented his translation, and then enthusiasm had sway when it was pointed out by Dr. Birch that this had immense importance for the study of the Bible. Again was struck the old note of Shirley, and again that audience responded. Then Mr. Gladstone spoke, showing how valuable all these discoveries were for the study of the origins of Greek culture, which he said had come from the East by way of Phoenicia. This was appreciated, but it was not exactly what the company most desired to hear, and to that phase Mr. Gladstone’s last sentence returned, concluding with the magic word .religion."192 The cheers broke forth then with a good will, and at a late hour the company went away to spread abroad this marvelous story of the discovery of an early narrative which all thought illustrated, and many believed confirmed and corroborated, the biblical story in Genesis. The government was urged at once to resume excavations on the site of Nineveh to find more material which might illustrate or confirm the biblical narrative. It did not or could not move instantly, and the public would not wait. The proprietors of
.. , a widely circulated journal, moved by the editor, Edwin Arnold, perceived the opportunity and seized it. They offered a thousand guineas to pay the expenses of an expedition to Nineveh on condition that Smith should lead it, and send letters to the paper describing his experience and discoveries. On January 20, 1873, a month after Norris’s death, Smith set out upon his enterprise, and on March 2 he reached Mosul, ready to begin excavations. He soon found that delays were the order of the day, and that the firman had not arrived. He therefore made a trip to Babylon, and on his return began small excavations at Nimroud, April 9. The discoveries made were few, and comparatively unimportant, and this mound was therefore abandoned, and excavations undertaken at Kuyunjik on May 7. On May 14 Smith secured from the same room in which Rassam had found Asshurbanapal’s library a new fragment of the Deluge story which fitted into the ones previously found. This fact was considered of sufficient moment to be telegraphed to London for publication in the paper. Smith was naturally much pleased with the discovery, but was also in the highest degree gratified by the finding of inscriptions of Esarhaddon, Asshurbanapal, and Sennacherib. Two more fragments of the Deluge tablet were shortly afterward found, and then on June 9 the excavations were stopped, as the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph were satisfied with the discovery of the Deluge fragments and did not wish to continue farther the work. Smith was much disappointed at this decision, and reluctantly left for England at once with his treasures. He was, however, sent out again from London on November 25, 1873, by the trustees of the British Museum, who had set apart one thousand pounds for further excavations at Nineveh. Smith reached Mosul on January 1, 1874, and immediately began excavations at Kuyunjik. These were productive of many inscriptions and of interesting archaeological materials, but nothing of startling importance as regards the Bible was found. Smith ceased work and left Mosul on April 4. When compared with the explorations of Lay and Rassam the work of Smith was comparatively small in amount, but it was valuable in the recovery of much historical material, and its influence upon public feeling and opinion in England was very great. Men were moved by his spirit, no less than by his words and works, to desire that new excavations should be undertaken. Without such inspiration, it is well to remember, the work might have ceased altogether. The British Museum again determined to avail itself of Smith’s services, and in October, 1875, he set out for Constantinople to seek to obtain a firman which should permit the resumption of his excavations. He was harried with petty annoyances by Turkish officialdom, but at last secured the coveted permission and returned to England to prepare for his third expedition. In March, 1876, he again set out for the East, and proceeded to Baghdad to inspect some antiquities which were offered for sale. It was then his purpose to begin excavations, but the plague had appeared, the country was unsettled, and there was every possible interference made by natives and by Turkish officials. In previous expeditions he had not learned how to deal with orientals, and alienated their sympathies without impressing them by his power. He was also disturbed more or less by a quarrel with Rassam and his family. Ignorant of the laws of health, by which Europeans are so closely bound in the Orient, he worked too much, rested too little, and was careless in the providing of good food suitable for the climate. At times he rode for days eating only crusts of bread. Beset behind and before with difficulties, and not permitted to excavate, he had to content himself with visits to numerous mounds, which he sketched or planned. On his way back he fell ill of fever, and died at Aleppo, August 19, 1876. Smith’s death came to the little world of Assyrian students as a thunderclap out of a clear sky.193 In England he was looked upon by scholars and people alike almost as a prophet; in Germany,194 where a new and vigorous school of Assyriologists bad begun its work, men were thrown into confusion by the severity of the loss which they felt. It was indeed a sore blow to the new study; but science dare not linger. The ranks closed up at the British Museum by the appointment of Mr. W. St. Chad Boscawen, and the trustees sought a man to begin again the excavations which Smith had laid down. It was natural that they should turn at once to Rassam. It was indeed a long time since he had worked in the field, for he had been absorbed in diplomatic service. He was now living in retirement in England, but responded immediately to the call for service in the same field as that in which his earliest fame had been won. In November, 1876, Rassam set out for Constantinople to seek a firman--the same errand which had cost Smith so many pangs. After a fruitless wait of four months he returned to England, but went out again when Sir Austen Henry Layard became British ambassador at Constantinople. This was indeed a fortunate appointment for Assyrian studies. Layard would be justly expected to exert himself to secure opportunities for further excavation if that was possible. His representations to the Porte were successful, and in November, 1877, Rassam was back in Mosul, where he received by telegraph the news that the firman was granted. His choice of a site for excavations was most happy. The natives had been finding at the hitherto unexplored mound of Balawat, about fifteen miles east of Mosul, fragments of bronze plates, some specimens of which had been sent to him in England. These he had shown to Professor Sayce, who found the name of Shalmaneser upon them, discovered their importance, and advised Rassam to begin diggings at that site. Sayce had thus come into a relation to Rassam similar to that held by Mohl in earlier days to Botta. The result was most successful. Rassam discovered in this mound, from which the fragments had come, the beautifully inscribed and adorned bronze plates which had covered at one time the palace gates of Shalmaneser. He also, however, began excavations at Kuyunjik and at Nimroud, where small numbers of interesting inscriptions were found. Rassam further made extensive journeys over portions of Babylonia, and among other results identified the site of Sippara. He visited Babylon and made some small excavations there, returning then by way of Van to England. Though not so rich in results as his former expedition, this last venture of Rassam helped on the national collections of the British Museum, and thereby added to the knowledge of ancient history. While Rassam was busy a new discoverer appeared in the East and very quietly began his work. M. Ernest de Sarzec was appointed French consul at Bassorah, on the Persian Gulf, and entered upon his duties in January, 1877. He had been in Abyssinia and had served in Egypt. He knew the desert and its people, and he carried to his new post strong enthusiasm for archaeological work. Two months after he entered Bassorah de Sarzec had begun excavations at Telloha mound four miles in length, lying in the great alluvial plain of southern Babylonia, about five miles from the banks of the Schatt-el-Hai, and sixty miles north of Mugheir. On this mound de Sarzec worked from March 5 to June 11, 1877, and again from February 18 to June 9, 1878. In July, 1878, he returned to Paris and found himself famous. He went again and worked in the mound from January to March, 1880, and also November 12, 1880, to March 15, 1881. His work was thus prolonged over a considerable period, and instead of merely running trenches hither and thither, he dug systematically over a large part of the mound. The results were full of surprises to the guild of Assyrian students, and were indeed almost revolutionary. He uncovered a fine temple, whose outer walls were one hundred and seventy-five feet long and one hundred feet broad, erected upon a vast mound from sixteen to twenty feet high. The outer wall was five feet thick, built of great baked bricks one foot square, bearing the name Goudea. These bricks were tightly fastened together by bitumen. In the interior he found thirty-six rooms, chiefly small in size, though one was fifty-five by sixty-five feet. In almost every room there were found objects of interest or of instruction for the study of the history of early Babylonia. In one room alone there were found no less than eight diorite statues, from an early period of Babylonian art, which had been unfortunately mutilated by some later barbarians, for all were headless. The valuable inscriptions were, however, in perfect preservation. In another part of the mound during the very first season there were found two beautiful terra cotta cylinders, each twenty-four inches in length by twelve in diameter. Each of these contained no less than two thousand lines of inscription, forming thus the longest inscriptions from an early period then known. De Sarzec’s work was done in masterly fashion, and when the inscriptions and objects of art were brought to Paris and deposited in the Louvre, it was felt that indeed a new era had opened for French archaeological study. Quarters were fitted up in the Louvre, and these objects found a place beneath the great roof, together with the discoveries of Botta, the pioneer. They did not receive the same acclaim as Botta’s discoveries had done in France, or Layard’s in England, but they were even of greater value scientifically. From the inscriptions the early language of the Sumerians was more perfectly learned, and from the statues and reliefs some faint idea was first conceived of the appearance of the great people who had laid the foundations of civilization in southern Babylonia. That was a distinguished service which de Sarzec had rendered. It alone was sufficient to give him high place on the roll of those who had made Babylonia live again. Again and again since 1881 has de Sarzec resumed his work at Telloh, and every year has he brought forth from the same mounds fresh discoveries of moving interest. In 1894 the spades of his workmen struck into a chamber from which were taken no less than thirty thousand tablets, a vast hoard of archives mostly of a business character and relating to trade, commerce, agriculture, and industry, with a goodly number of temple documents and religious notices. The mass of tablets was so great that it was not possible to protect them from the thieving propensities of the natives, and many thousands were stolen, to be sold and scattered all over the world both in public museums and in private hands. While this is to be deplored, it is perhaps safe to expect that in the end very few of them will be lost to science. With this exception de Sarzec has been successful in securing for the Louvre an important part of the brilliant results of his explorations, and the end of his work is not yet. During all this long period of exploration and excavation, carried on by almost all the nations of Europe, there have been developing in America schools of students of the languages, history, and religions of the ancient Orient. It was natural that in America, also, men should begin to talk of efforts to assist in the great work of recovering the remains of Babylonian and Assyrian civilization. In 1884, at meetings of the American Oriental Society and of the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, conferences were held upon this subject in which Professor John P. Peters, of Philadelphia, the Rev. Dr. William Hayes Ward, Professor Francis Brown, and Professor Isaac H. Hall, of New York, and Professors C. H. Toy and D. G, Lyon, of Harvard University, were participants. These and other gentlemen finally formed an organization, afterward connected with the Archaeological Institute of America, for the purpose of raising funds to send out to Babylonia an expedition to explore the country and see where excavations might profitably be undertaken. Miss Catherine Lorillard Wolfe, of New York, gave five thousand dollars to defray the expenses of this preliminary exploration, and on September 6, 1884, the Wolfe expedition to Babylonia departed from New York.195 The personnel of this expedition consisted of Dr. William Hayes Ward, Mr. J. H. Haynes, then an instructor in Robert College, Constantinople, and Dr. J. R. S. Sterrett. They traveled over much of the land of Babylonia, visiting sites where excavations had previously been made, as well as scores of mounds that had not yet been examined by archaeologists. Upon his return, in June, 1885, Dr. Ward earnestly recommended that an expedition be placed in the field to engage in the actual work of excavation. He advised that Anbar be the site chosen for this purpose,196 but spoke with enthusiasm of the opportunities in other places, among them at Niffer, then erroneously identified with ancient Calneh, of which he said, .There nothing has been done; it is a most promising site of a most famous city."197 The report of Dr. Ward bore no immediate fruit, but the leaven was steadily working, and efforts were proceeding in several directions to secure funds to undertake excavations. The labors of Dr. John P. Peters at last bore fruit, and an expedition was sent out by the University of Pennsylvania which departed from New York June 23, 1888. Of this company Dr. Peters was director, and Professors Hermann V. Hilprecht, of the University of Pennsylvania, and Robert F. Harper, of the University of Chicago, were Assyriologists, Mr. Perez Hastings Field, architect, and J. H. Haynes, business manager, commissary, and photographer. It was, however, long ere the expedition could come to its work. There were the usual delays in securing permission from the Imperial Ottoman government; there were difficulties in the gathering of equipment and in the assembling of the staff; there was a shipwreck of part of the expedition on the island of Samos, and perils of health and of life during the long journey overland to southern Babylonia.198 At last, on February 6, 1889, excavations were begun on the mount of Nuffar, or Niffer, the site of ancient Nippur, and continued until April 15, with a maximum force of two hundred Arabs. The difficulties were enormous, for there were constant struggles with some of the native tribes, with many individuals among them, and with sundry Turkish officials. But in spite of-all this the expedition made a trigonometrical survey of all the mounds and won from them more than "two thousand cuneiform tablets and fragments (among them three dated in the reign of King Ashuretililani of Assyria), a number of inscribed bricks, terra cotta brick stamp of Naram- Sin, fragment of a barrel cylinder of Sargon of Assyria, inscribed stone tablet, several fragments of inscribed vases (among them two of King Lugalzaggisi of Erech), door socket of Kurigalzu, about twenty-five Hebrew bowls, a large number of stone and terra cotta vases of various sizes and shapes, terra cotta images of gods and their ancient moulds, reliefs, figurines, and toys in terra cotta, weapons and utensils in stone and metal, jewelry in gold, silver, copper, bronze, and various precious stones, a number of weights, seals, and seal cylinders."199 It is an excellent record, yet to Dr. Peters it seemed that the first year’s work .was more or less of a failure, so far at least as Nippur was concerned."200 This judgment is probably influenced by the great difficulties with the Arabs which embittered the last days of the work.201 It was successful, though far surpassed in importance by that which was to follow. From January 14 to May 3, 1890, the University of Pennsylvania expedition was again at work at Nippur, with Dr. Peters as director, and Mr. Haynes as business manager, and with a maximum force of four hundred Arabs. During this season about eight thousand inscribed tablets were taken from the ruins as well as antiquities of other kinds in large numbers.202 It was a brilliantly successful year in every particular, being also less disturbed by troubles with the Arabs than the former. All these antiquities were sent to Constantinople for the Imperial Museum, though later considerable portions of them were presented to the museum of the University of Pennsylvania as a personal gift of the sultan. This gracious act arose directly out of the dignified and generous course pursued by the authorities of the University of Pennsylvania. They had honestly handed over the antiquities to the Constantinople authorities, as indeed they had promised to do, but had gone much further than this. Professor Hilprecht was sent to Constantinople to catalogue these same collections for the Imperial Museum. This work was done with great skill, but also with such tact as to call forth expressions of gratitude from all who were connected with the museum. By gifts of antiquities to the museum in Philadelphia, of which Professor Hilprecht was himself a curator, the sultan aimed to repay the University of Pennsylvania for this free gift of his services. For a time excavations at Nippur were intermitted, but on April 11, 1893, the University of Pennsylvania had another expedition in the field under the directorship of Mr. J. H. Haynes. Then began one of the most important of all the long series of expeditions in Babylonia or in Assyria. Haynes remained steadily on the ground at work until February 15, 1896, with a short break from April 4 to June 4, 1894. Never before had a European ventured to carry on excavations through a hot season. Professor Hilprecht has not spoken too cordially in saying that .the crowning success was reserved for the unselfish devotion and untiring efforts of Haynes, the ideal Babylonian explorer. Before he accomplished his memorable task, even such men as were entitled to an independent opinion, and who themselves had exhibited unusual courage and energy, had regarded it as practically impossible to excavate continuously in the lower regions of Mesopotamia. On the very same ruins of Nippur, situated in the neighborhood of extensive malarial marshes, and ‘ among the most wild and ignorant Arabs that can be found in this part of Asia,203 where Layard himself nearly sacrificed his life in excavating several weeks without success,204 Haynes has spent almost three years continuously, isolated from all civilized men, and most of the time without the comfort of a single companion. It was indeed no easy task for any European or American to dwell thirty-four months near these insect-breeding and pestiferous Affej swamps, where the temperature in perfect shade rises to the enormous height of 120° Fahrenheit (=c, 39° Reaumur), where the stifling sandstorms from the desert rob the tent of its shadow and parch the human skin with the heat of a furnace; while the ever- present insects bite and sting and buzz through day and night; while cholera is lurking at the threshold of the camp and treacherous Arabs are planning robbery and murder-and yet during all these wearisome hours to fulfill the duties of three ordinary men. Truly a splendid victory, achieved at innumerable sacrifices, and under a burden of labors enough for a giant; in the full significance of the word a monumentum aere perennius..205 During the third campaign of the University of Pennsylvania about twenty-one thousand cuneiform tablets and fragments were taken out of the mound, and besides these there were found large numbers of antiquities of other kinds, all of great importance in the reconstruction of the past history of Babylonia. Among these were large numbers of vases and fragments of vases from the very earliest period of history, drain tiles, water cocks, brick stamps, beautiful clay coffins glazed in tile fashion and finely preserved, and diorite statues and fragments.206 After a brief and necessary interruption, the Philadelphia expedition began work again in February, 1899, with Dr. J. H. Haynes as manager and Messrs. Geere and Fisher as architects. In January, 1900, Professor Hilprecht reached Nippur and took charge as scientific director. Under his direction .an extensive group of hills to the southwest of the temple of Bel" were systematically excavated. From the same-location about twenty-five hundred tablets were taken in the first campaign, and later excavations had increased the number to about fifteen thousand. Within six weeks "a series of rooms was exposed which furnished not less than sixteen thousand cuneiform documents, forming part of the temple library during the latter half of the third millennium B. C."207 From these four campaigns had come a vast store of literature of all kinds; here were letters and dispatches, chronological lists, historical fragments, syllabaries, building and business inscriptions, astronomical and religious texts, votive tablets, inventories, tax lists, and plans of estates. No expedition had ever been more successful and none had ever been more warmly supported at home. Fortunate in its directors at home, rich in the scientific directorate of Professor Hilprecht, the results attained have been worthy of all the expenditure of energy, life, and treasure. Alone among the greatest of the modern nations: Germany had done very little in the field of exploration while other peoples had been so busy. German scholarship had made the highest contributions to decipherment and to the scientific treatment of texts unearthed by the patient explorers sent out by others. It were strange if Germany should not also seek to find new tablets as well as to read them. Professor Friedrich Delitzsch, long an exponent of the science of Assyriology and one of the most eminent scholars of modern times, urged the formation of the German Orient Society,208 which was finally constituted early in 1898. Even before the proposed society was organized a .commission for the archaeological investigation of the lands of the Euphrates and Tigris" prepared to secure direct information concerning the various sites which seemed to promise the best results when excavated. To this end Professor Eduard Sachau, of the University of Berlin, accompanied by Dr. Robert Koldewey, departed for the East October 23, 1897. They thoroughly explored Babylonia and Assyria,209 and brought back abundant information for the use of the new society, which was now fairly started. To it scholars gave their aid, the German Emperor made a grant of funds, and in the end of the year an expedition was sent to the East with Dr. Koldewey as director and Dr. Bruno Meissner, of Halle, as Assyriologist. The latter, after very useful service,. retired and was succeeded by Dr. E. Lindl, of Munich. In the spring of 1899 work was commenced in the great mound of El-Kasr, Babylon, beneath which were the remains of the palace of Nebuchadrezzar. Success was had in a measurable degree from the very beginning in the discovery of a new Hittite inscription210 and of many tablets of the neo-Babylonian period. The future work, which must continue for a number of years, is in good hands, for German patience and persistence will be certain to continue it to the end. In 1888 there was made in Egypt a most surprising discovery of letters and dispatches written for the most part in the Babylonian script and language. A peasant woman, living in the wretched little mud village of Tell-el- Amarna,211 on the Nile, about one hundred and eighty miles south of Memphis, was searching for antiquities among the sand and stones by the mountain side some distance back from the river. Little did she know that beneath this rubbish lay all that remained of the temple and palace of the great heretic king of Egypt, Amenophis IV, or, as he called himself, Akh-en-Aten. Her concern was only to find some bits of anteeka, which might be sold to those strange people from Europe and America, who buy things simply because they are old. Out of the mound she took over three hundred pieces of inscribed tablets, some of them only 2x1/8 inches by 1x11/16 inches, while others are 8x3/4 inches by 4x7/8 inches and even larger. One hundred and sixty of these, many of them fragments, were acquired by Herr Theodore Graf, of Vienna, and were purchased from him by Herr J. Simon, of Berlin, and presented to the Royal Museum in the latter city. Eighty-two were bought for the trustees of the British Museum by Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge; sixty came into the possession of the Gizeh Museum in Cairo, and a few into private hands. The documents thus restored to the world are to be reckoned with the most important of cuneiform discoveries. They consist of letters and dispatches which passed between Amenophis III and Amenophis IV on the one hand, and on the other various monarchs, princes, and governors of western Asia, among whom were Kadashman-Bel of Babylonia, Asshur-uballit of Assyria, Dushratta of Mitanni, Rib-Adds of Byblos, Abimilki of Tyre, Abdi-Kheba of Jerusalem, and many others. Their historical value is great not only because of the chronological material deducible from them, but also because they give a note worthy side light upon the entire social relations of the time.212 During the long series of years that excavation had been carried on in the East by Europe and America but little interest in the subject was aroused in Turkey, in whose great empire all these finds were made. But during the latter part of the period there came a great revival of enthusiasm for antiquity in Turkey itself, due almost entirely to the wisdom, patience, and learning of one man. Trained in Europe, a man of fine natural taste and of great personal enthusiasm, Hamdy Bey was admirably fitted for the post of director-general of the Imperial Ottoman Museum. He has transformed it and all its arrangements and made certain a great future for it. Ably seconded by his brother, Halil Bey, he gave great and continued help to the Philadelphia expedition, and magnificently has his museum profited thereby. It remained only that this museum, the best situated in all the world to gain thereby, should itself undertake excavations. Hamdy Bey succeeded in interesting the sultan himself in the matter and inducing him to provide a sum of money from his private purse to undertake excavations at Abu-Habba, the site of ancient Sippar. The director of the expedition was the French Dominican, Father Scheil, a distinguished Assyriologist, who was accompanied by Bedry Bey, who had been Turkish commissioner to the Philadelphia expedition, and therefore knew by experience the best method of exploration. The expedition was completely successful, and in the short space of two months, at a cost of only three thousand francs, gathered a fine store of over six hundred and seventy-nine tablets and fragments, mostly letters and contracts dated in the reign of Samsuiluna, the son and successor of Hammurabi, as well as many vases and other objects similar to those found by the expedition at Nippur.213 Scheil was naturally supported by all government officials in the most loyal fashion, and his success is an interesting promise for the future. The Turkish government is able to control its own representatives in the neighborhood of the mounds, and if it is once thoroughly aroused to the interest and importance of excavating its untold buried treasures of art, science, and literature, scarcely any limits may be set to the great results that may be expected for our knowledge of ancient Babylonia. Besides these great expeditions other smaller and less conspicuous undertakings have frequently been made to secure the archaeological treasures of Babylonia and Assyria. The most successful among these are doubtless the repeated oriental visits of Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge, of the British Museum. He has gone quietly into various parts of the East and, with a thorough understanding of the natives, has been able year by year to in. crease the collections of the museum. No public account of his work has been made, and no narrative of his labors can therefore be given here. Here rests for a time the story of expeditions to uncover the buried cities of Babylonia and Assyria. For a short time only in all probability, for the gain has been so large, the rewards so great, that new expeditions must ever seek an opportunity to labor in the same fields. While great expeditions have their periods of labor and their periods of rest one form of exploration goes on all the time in spite of many efforts to prevent it. The natives of the district have learned that antiquities may be sold to Europeans and Americans for gold. The traffic in them in Turkey is forbidden by law, and their export from the country is interdicted. But the native digs on surreptitiously and smuggles the results into the hands of merchants, who market them in Baghdad, London, and elsewhere. This practice brings into the possession of museums and so into the hands of scholars hundreds of tablets that otherwise might long remain hidden. Yet it is greatly to be deplored, for much is thus broken by careless and ignorant handling, and the source or origin, a point of great importance, is unknown or concealed from fear of the government. It is therefore on many accounts to be hoped that the Turkish government may ultimately succeed in preventing it, and may secure for its own rapidly growing museum more of the objects that are found by chance. Agathic atrioventricular seawater marmot! Heterodiode postsurgical sprays diagometer reverse subballast cavernitis scoop guying recrement pylorin dibbler. Reedbuck gender epididymography; spinnery slub radiolocating swapper. Circumintestinal.tadalafilnaproxen 500cialis tadalafilsoma onlineplavixvoltarentriamcinolonesoma onlinetramadol hclcleocinariceptzolpidem
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